Neuroscientist: Religious Fundamentalism Could Be A Curable Mental Illness

A leading neuroscientist at the University of Oxford says in the next 60 years doctors could be treating religious fundamentalism as a curable mental illness.

“One of the surprises may be to see people with certain beliefs as people who can be treated,” research scientist Kathleen Taylor told an audience at the Hay Literary Festival in Wales on Wednesday.

“Somebody who has for example become radicalized to a cult ideology – we might stop seeing that as a personal choice that they have chosen as a result of pure free will and may start treating it as some kind of mental disturbance.”

When Taylor said “beliefs” she didn’t mean just religious or cult ideology.

“I am not just talking about the obvious candidates like radical Islam or some of the more extreme cults,” she said. “I am talking about things like the belief that it is OK to beat your children. These beliefs are very harmful but are not normally categorized as mental illness.”

Author of “The Brain Supremacy,” Taylor believes, “In many ways that could be a very positive thing because there are no doubt beliefs in our society that do a heck of a lot of damage, that really do a lot of harm.”

In the book she cautioned that scientists have “to be careful when it comes to developing technologies which can slip through the skull to directly manipulate the brain.”

“They cannot be morally neutral, these world-shaping tools; when the aspect of the world in question is a human being, morality inevitably rears its hydra heads,” Taylor wrote. “Technologies which profoundly change our relationship with the world around us cannot simply be tools, to be used for good or evil, if they alter our basic perception of what good and evil are.”

In 2006, Taylor wrote a book called “Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control” in which she studies that persuasive tactics of groups like al-Qaeda.

How do we find a cure for liberalism? I would actually be willing to contribute some tax $$ for that.

I agree liberalism pussy foots around to much with reforms and the like. A revolution would be better, just eliminate religion by force, Islamic style, you either accept treatment for your religious mental illness or face the sword.

It isn't at all clear that beliefs are even legitimate posits of an idealized scientific psychology, let alone what their exact relation is to the brain stuff studied by neuroscientists (other than belief report/brain activity correlations); let's learn to walk by addressing these basicmost issues before trying to run with vague, speculative bullshit.

I agree liberalism pussy foots around to much with reforms and the like. A revolution would be better, just eliminate religion by force, Islamic style, you either accept treatment for your religious mental illness or face the sword.

It isn't at all clear that beliefs are even legitimate posits of an idealized scientific psychology, let alone what their exact relation is to the brain stuff studied by neuroscientists (other than belief report/brain activity correlations); let's learn to walk by addressing these basicmost issues before trying to run with vague, speculative bullshit.

We have next to no idea what "beliefs", "thoughts" or even consciousness IS in the brain.

This all stems from some limitid research on neuromodulation. Like a pacemaker, except for the brain. They have been put with some sucess into the brains of severely mentally ill people and stimulated the release of brain chemicals to bring them back into balance.

If you treat a religious fundamentalist, you are not treating religion or beliefs, you're treating their underlying disorder.

Religion is so odd because so many people believe irrational things about it, but operate the rest of their lives in a rational way.

Fundamentalists also act the same way, until they feel it's time to act. Terrorists have day jobs too folks.